Why We Don't Play With Potions
by innocent as far as you know
Summary: After a potions accident, several students in Class B of the High School are left with overpowering animal instincts! Natsume seems to have it really bad, instinctively wanting to chase away dogs(Sumire), nap in the sun all day, leave his scent everywhere by rubbing against everything, and court his mate(which his animal side has chosen for him) Mikan. How will Class B survive?
1. Chapter 1

Just a note, for all of you and to help me keep my stories separated, this story takes place when Class B is in high school. Its very similar to when they were in elementary, but everyone's older.

.:o0O0o:.

As she woke, Mikan could feel the warm morning sun against her face as it shown through the gap in her curtain. She stretched, groaning at the feeling of cracking her back, and relaxed back in the bed, staring at the ceiling and just enjoying being awake.

Suddenly, there was a commotion from the hallway, someone was knocking at the door to her dorm room.

"Mikan!" Came a shout from behind the door. "Mikan Sakura! You get your butt out of bed right now and open this door or I swear you aren't going to live to see the end of freshman year!"

Mikan groggily got up and opened the door, nearly being bowled over by Sumire in the girls haste to get in.

"Quickly, close the door!" Sumire shouted before slamming the door shut and putting her full weight against it. Mikan reached over and turned the lock in the handle before pulling her friend up off the floor.

"Whats going on?" She asked, settling with Sumire on the bed as the other girl caught her breath.

"Well," started Sumire. "It's Sunday, so classes are optional..." Mikan nodded slowly at her friend. "Well, it all started with Anna and Nonoko..." She said, looking at Mikan.

Mikan looked at Sumire sceptically. "How exactly did Anna and Nonoko start it?" As far as she was aware, Anna and Nonoko had never caused any trouble in their lives and it sure was a funny to start now with something big enough to send Sumire running.

"Well, Anne was baking and Nonoko was playing with her potions when someone bumped into them." Mikan was very suspicious of the delicate tone that Sumire was using and the poorly hidden look of guilt on her face.

"Someone?" She asked.

"Me." Sumire admitted.

"So what happened next?"

"Well, some of Anna's ingredients got mixed with Nonoko's chemicals and we ended up with an unknown potion..." Said Sumire.

"And how does an unknown potion equate to you running down the hallway at-" Mikan looked at the clock. "Nine o'clock in the morning on a Sunday?"

"Well," Sumire started. "The potion was kind of all over the table and everyone in the vicinity got splashed with it..." At this point, Sumire was starting to look very guilty.

"And...?" Mikan prompted.

"And?" Sumire asked innocently.

"And what affect did the potion have?" Asked Mikan.

"People started to ..." Sumire said, mumbling the last part into her shirt.

"What?" Asked Mikan patiently.

"People started to exhibit characteristics of animals..." Sumire said quietly, and Mikan let out a huff and thought about this.

"And why were you running down the hallway?"

"Someone was chasing me..."

"Who was chasing you?"

"... Natsume..."


	2. Chapter 2

Jesus Christ, you guys, six reviews within twelve hours of posting! I feel like I'm famous!

.:o0O0o:.

_"And why were you running down the hallway?"_

_"Someone was chasing me..."_

_"Who was chasing you?"_

_"... Natsume..."_

-0-

"... Natsume was chasing you down the hallway?" Mikan confirmed, giving her friend a very skeptical look. Sumire nodded. "Why was Natsume chasing you down the hallway, did you steal his underclothes again?" Sumire shook her head and Mikan sighed.

"Well," started Sumire. "Remember how I said everyone was displaying animalistic behavior?" Mikan nodded. "Well, Natsume was acting like a cat... And I'm a cat-dog Alice... And he was a big cat and I was a little dog." She said, and Mikan burst into laughter.

"So... You're... telling me..." She said, pausing to laugh and then take big gulps of air. "That Natsume... the cat... was chasing you... just for... being a... dog?" She asked, still bursting into intermittent spurts of laughter. Sumire blushed and looked down and Mikan's laughter started to die at this sight. "Sumire," she said, demanding the attention of her friend. "What did you do exactly?" She asked forcefully.

"Well," started Sumire. "I may have kind of sort of possibly maybe, though there is a slight chance that I didn't-"

"What." Said Mikan suddenly, cutting Sumire off. "Did. You. Do. Because, so help me got, if you did what I think you did, I will open that door and throw you to the dogs myself- or cats, as it were." Her look was sharp and dangerous and Sumire quailed under it.

"I petted him." Sumire admitted, and Mikan turned her incredulous gaze upon her friend.

"You what?!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Why, in that little bubble you call your mind, did you think it was a good idea to pet the most dangerous person in the room!?" Said Mikan in exasperated shock.

"But he looked so adorable!" Said Sumire.

"Cute?" Questioned Mikan.

"Yeah!" Said Sumire. "He was all curled up in a ball and he was licking his hand and then rubbing his face! Exactly like a cat does!" She seemed really excited about this face and Mikan gave her a droll and somewhat exasperated look.

"Let me guess," she started. "You petted him and he lashed out then you ran and he chased you?" Mikan said, and Sumire nodded. "Then why did you come to my room?" She asked.

"Well," started Sumire. "I knew you would here."

"What?"

"Well, you never get up early on Sundays unless you have to!" Sumire defended. Mikan sighed.

"So what do we do now?" She asked, and Sumire looked at her in confusion. "I mean, is Natsume still out there? Are we able to leave? Or do we need to call in for food and possible reinforcements? Why don't you go listen at the door and see if he's still out there?" Mikan said, gesturing towards the entrance to the room.

Sumire dutifully got up and rested her ear against the door, listening for any sounds. After a minuet or so, she stood up and whispered to Mikan. "I don't hear anything outside."

Slowly, both girls crept towards the door and, together in one movement, opened it, gasping at what they saw.

.:o0O0o:.

Question: Would you rather me update really often or give you longer chapters? Several people mentioned longer chapters in their reviews, but that would mean that I would have to wait longer between posts and it runs the risk of me forgetting about it, since reviews remind and encourage me to write...


	4. Chapter 4

The door was in pieces. Literally, it had been ripped apart and both girls wondered why they hadn't noticed it, because it would have been very difficult to be so quiet and yet cause this much damage. There were deep gouges in the wood, likes etched into its surface, and nearly every surface in the hallway was covered in a light layer of saw dust, not to mention small bits and pieces of the door.

Did Natsume do this? If so, then Sumire might be in more trouble than Mikan had originally thought...

"Dear god." Sumire uttered, her face having lost all of it's color due to the shock of what Natsume- a boy that she had followed around and bothered and tried to kiss, had done.

Sumire swallowed but the lump in her throat didn't want to go away.

Was he always capable of such distraction? Or was this due to the potion? Sumire looked closely at the mess of wood chips all over the floor and saw that none of the pieces were burnt, they had simply been torn to pieces.

A little image of Natsume with cat ears, a tail, and claws came into her mind. The little mental neko!natsume stretched before reaping havoc on the door, gouging out pieces and basically using it as a scratching post. Now that she thought about it, the gouge marks _did_ seem to resemble claw marks, but how? Was that from the potion as well? Sumire didn't remember seeing any feline features on Natsume when she had petted him, but she was a little bit distracted by his cuteness...

"He must be really strong," muttered Mikan aloud, and Sumire started to think about the sheer power it would have taken to cause this much destruction, and she began to drool.

"Yeah..." Sighed Sumire, and Mikan gave her an odd look wondering if Sumire would ever learn that it was a bad idea to be around Natsume if he didn't like you.

Suddenly, a little ways down the hall, a door opened and a head peaked out.

"Is he gone?" A small voice called down the hallway and, as she leaned out, Mikan could see a little head of red hair poking out of the doorway.

It was one of the little girls from the elementary branch, but Mikan couldn't remember her name.

"I think so," She said, walking over to the little girl and leaving shuffling footprints in the sawdust. "Did he scare you, hon?" Mikan said, kneeling down on her knees to look into the child's eyes. The girl had been sucking her thumb, but she quickly removed it and launched herself into Mikan's arms, crying and nodding and staining Mikan's night-shirt with tears and snot. Not expecting all the forcefulness of a distraught child to be directed at her, she fell backwards onto the floor, still cradling the child in her arms.

"Who's the brat?" Asked Sumire, still in the entrance to Mikan's room. Mikan turned and glared at the other teenager.

"Don't be so mean!" She chastised before turning to the girl. "Do you want to introduce yourself and tell Sumire your name?"

"Akiko," the child mumbled into Mikan's shirt.

"Well, Akiko," said Mikan. "Would you like to come with us as we go look for a new door?"


	5. Chapter 5

The little red-head nodded and Mikan hoisted her up into her arms before turning to face Sumire, who was still watching the pair from the doorway.

"Well?" Asked Mikan. Sumire looked at her, confused.

"Well, what?" Sumire questioned.

"Well, you ready to go?" Mikan asked, and Sumire gave the girl a once over.

"You're still in your pajamas..." Said Sumire, and Mikan looked down to see that the other girl was right.

"Who says I can't go around in pajamas all day?" She asked. "It's Sunday, we don't have class." Sumire's eyes widened.

"You can't go out in your pajamas!" She exclaimed, and Mikan looked at her in innocent confusion.

"Why not? Pajamas are comfortable and then I don't have to change." She said.

"But... But..." Sumire said, trying to put words to why she thought Mikan shouldn't go out in her night-clothes. "But it's too revealing!" She said finally, a triumphant smile on her face as she pointed at Mikan's outfit. Mikan looked down as well.

"No it's not," said Mikan, and indeed she was right. While Sumire was dressed in a simple non-uniform skirt and blouse pairing, Mikan was still in what she had gone to sleep in, a purple camisole and long sleep pants, covered in purple plaid. "It covers more than the school uniform." She said simply.

Sumire proceeded to hang her head in defeat.

"Besides," continued Mikan. "Since I'm wearing pants, Natsume won't be able to see my underwear." She said, starting to walk off with Akiko still in her arms.

Sumire stood and dumbly watched them walk away, frozen to the spot from shock.

.:o0O0o:.

I would love to hear some ideas about interactions between the school and the students affected by the potion, it doesn't have to just be Natsume. You can suggest anyone and what animal you think they should act like, and I shall take that into account... Remember, the more you describe a scene, the more I will be able to envision it and the more likely I am to incorporate some part of that into the story.

By the way, speaking of animals, do you think the potion should cause them to have physical animal characteristics? Like ears and tails and whiskers and claws?

And lastly, I'm sick and I don't know when I'm going to update next, since I kind of hate everything right now. I didn't think I was going to, but I saw all of the lovely reviews I got and I just had to give you a little something in return. ^_^


	6. Chapter 6

"Ya know what, Permy?" Mikan said thoughtfully as they walked down the hall.

"It's Sumire." The girl grunted in agitation at the nickname.

"I thought you would have been happier about this..." Said Mikan, ignoring Sumire's grumpiness.

"What?!" Shrieked Sumire. "Why would I be happy about this?!"

"Well," said Mikan, her face showing the beginnings of a smirk. "Haven't you always dreamed of Natsume chasing you?" She said, turning to Sumire and grinning. The other girl simply looked at her in shock.

"Wha-?!" Sputtered Sumire. "Whats that supposed to mean?!"

"It's just that you spent the majority of elementary school chasing after the poor boy-" Sumire let out a 'Hey!' of indignation, but Mikan ignored it and continued. "And you proclaimed yourself as the president of his fan club and you were always acting really erratically, doing whatever you thought would gain his favor at the time..." She said, looking over at Sumire, who was blushing in embarrassment as she remembered her Elementary School days.

"It wasn't like that," Sumire said, trying to defend her past actions.

"Oh?" Questioned Mikan, looking over at her friend. "Do tell." She said.

"I-... I was just-... It wasn't like that!" Sumire said, too flustered to form a coherent argument.

"Sure..." Said Mikan, nodding at her friend as they walked down the hall.

-0-

_I hope you realize how lucky you are, I was about to stop the chapter right there!_

-0-

Mikan smiled happily as she and Sumire walked down the sidewalk, Akiko still wrapped up in Mikan's arms. They had finally managed to track down one of the janitorial robots(copy write: Hotaru) and reported the state of Mikan's dorm room door and they were now on their way to the classroom to check on the progress of the potion clean up.

Sumire was hoping that everything had been fixed and Natsume was no longer in his vicious cat form while Mikan was hoping the clouds in the sky would hold their rain at least until they got into the classroom, but, sadly, neither of them got their wishes.

Just at they had turned the corner and caught sight of the door to the building, it started to pour. It began as a light sprinkling but quickly progressed to a shower and the three girls were soaked before they could take five steps.

Mikan tightened her arms around Akiko, who was latched onto the taller girl with her legs around her waist and arms around her neck. Mikan had found a blanket in a storeroom only half an hour earlier and had tied it around her neck like a cape and again around her waist so that the little girl was almost completely covered and Mikan felt like a large fluffy burrito.

Mikan and Sumire ran to the door, both very eager to get out of the downpour. They ran down the hallway towards the classroom, leaving wet footprints and making squelching noises with every step. Mikan let out a large breath as they reached the door to the classroom, trying unsuccessfully to blow a piece of hair off of her face.

Sumire, the only one with free hands, opened the door to Class B and stared at the chaos she saw inside.

.:o0o:.

What do you think is going on inside? And are there any more suggestions for what animals everyone should be?

Some of the suggestions so far(The ones I've gotten in reviews so far):

Koko Bear or Parrot

Jinno Frog

Youichi Koala Bear(Sticking to Mikan or Natsume)

Hotaru Penguin or Rat

Ruka Fish or Bird or Bunny

Nonoko Gecko

Anna Ferret

Luna Crow

You can suggest new ones or vote on old ones, I don't really mind either.


	7. Chapter 7

Narumi- Peacock

Koko- Parrot

Jinno- Frog

Youichi- Koala Bear

Ruka- Bunny

Hotaru- Penguin

Nonoko- Mouse

Kitsuneme- Bear

Anna- Ferret

Yuu- Turtle

Tsubasa- Dog

Misaki- Chamelion

Any other suggestions are welcome, if the character doesn't show up in this chapter, you can suggest a different animal or if I don't include a character in this chapter or the list, feel free to suggest them ^_^ Honestly, I wouldn't have gotten this far without all of your wonderful suggestions, I can't wait to use them!

.:o0O0o:.

The room was in absolute chaos. Chairs and desks were overturned, books had been strewn across the room, laying open with pages bent or falling out. There, in the center of the room, just like Sumire had said, was a table that was still standing but had broken glass and ceramic floating in puddles of a weird blue liquid. Mikan looked at all the chaos, it seemed like just about everyone in the classroom had been effected!

Narumi had grown feathers, poking out from under his shirt and interspersed with his hair, and he was strutting around the front of the room, showing them off to anyone who would pay attention to him. It seemed like his pheromones had gone a little wild on that side of the classroom, since he had a captive audience of children with various animal attributes.

Mikan could see Ruka as he hopped around the room, his adorable white bunny ears flopping with each movement and, as he turned a corner, she could see a little fluffy tail! Mikan started to coo at the cuteness, but stopped as she saw why exactly he was hopping around the room. He was chasing after Hotaru, whose face had taken on an odd coloring, and it kind of make Mikan think of a penguin, especially with the way she was kind of waddling around... Occasionally, Mikan could see Ruka trap Hotaru and rub his face all over hers before she pushed him away and ran again.

Koko was hopping from place to place with the use of his wings- wait?! Wings?! Mikan narrowed her eyes and looked closer... Was it just her? Or did Koko seem a little smaller? He did, in fact, have wings, brightly colored with beautiful green plumage. He still had his arms, and it appeared that the wings were sprouting from his back. He hopped over a desk, landed nimbly on an overturned chair, and launched himself straight into Sumire's arms.

"Sumire!" He squawked happily. "I missed you!" He said, sticking his beak into her face. Sumire blush and turned to look at Koko, and Mikan decided to give them some privacy, preferring instead to look at the state of the room some more.

Anna and Nonoko seemed to have gotten the worst of it, both girls having almost shrunk down to the size of their animals. Nonoko was small, about the size of an elementary schooler, with a thin, nearly hairless tail coming over the waist band of her skirt, whiskers twitching against her cheeks and little animal ears poking out from beneath her blue hair. She was curled in on herself, her eyes darting around the room worriedly, looking as meek as a mouse... A mouse?

Anna was nearly the same size, but her face had become a little more pointed, with little ears poking out of her hair as well and little furry tail to match. She didn't look nearly as frightened as Nonoko, but it seemed like she was uncomfortable with being so small. She was dancing around Nonoko, a frenzied movement that involved hops and bumping into things like the legs of the table they were hiding under, and Mikan could hear a light clucking noise. Anna didn't seem to be scaring Nonoko, so Mikan let them be.

That was the plan, anyway...

A few minuets after she had shifted her attention elsewhere, Kitsuneme went over to them. Kitsuneme, it seemed, had somewhat turned into a bear. He was massive, especially compared to Anna and Nonoko as they cowered in his shadow. His brown bear ears twitched from their place atop their head, and he started to reach his hands down to them. Just as Mikan was about to go save the two girls, the door was thrown open and Jinno walked in.

"What is going on in here?!" He asked, his mouth open wide in shock. Mikan was struggling not to giggle. Jinno had seen this and his eyes narrowed as he stormed over to her. "You." He said in an accusing tone. "What did you do?" He demanded.

"I didn't do anything," defended Mikan. "I just got here!" Jinno apparently didn't believe her.

"You've always been a trouble maker," he said, glaring before giving her a once over. "What are you hiding under that blanket of yours?" He asked before trying to yank it off. He didn't succeed, only managing to pull it to the side, nearly choking Mikan in the process, but it was enough for him to see the small form that had been hiding under the blanket. Jinno's eyes widened in confusion as he saw the little girl wrapped around Mikan's torso. "Wha...?" He said.

"This is Akiko," said Mikan. "Natsume scared her." She said simply. Jinno pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What happened," he asked. Mikan shrugged.

"I don't know, I wasn't here." Said Mikan, turning to Sumire, who had snapped out of whatever had been going on with her and Koko. Sumire didn't say anything, she simply gestured to the table in the middle of the room. Jinno made his way over to it and started to examine the substance.

Just then, the door burst open for the second time since Mikan had entered the room, and there, in the doorway, stood Tsubasa and Misaki.

"I heard something had happened over here," said Tsubasa as he walked in, quickly getting distracted by the new attributed of all the students, running around the classroom, pissing everyone off by playing with their ears, tails, or whiskers.

"You all right?" Asked Misaki, coming over to Mikan. Mikan nodded, watching Tsubasa as he jumped around the room before finally ending up in the middle where Jinno was examining the potion. One of the students, intent on getting revenge since Tsubasa tugged on his ears hard enough to still hurt a few minuets after, stuck out a foot and managed to trip the upperclassmen as he was running back to Misaki.

"Woah!" Shouted Tsubasa as he started skidding, having hit the slick patch on the floor covered in potion. He slid across the floor, managing to splash the potion on the near by students as well as Jinno before he skidded to a stop at the feet of Misaki and Mikan. Misaki rushed to help her boyfriend up, not minding that the potion was soaking into her clothes and skin.

"Are you alright?" She asked worriedly. Tsubasa huffed good-naturedly and quickly ran both hands in alternate directions through his wet hair, splashing droplets of the potion everywhere.

"Mister Andou," came a stern voice from behind the pair. Tsubasa cringed and turned to see Jinno wiping his face with a handkerchief before cleaning his glasses. "Do you realize what you've done?" He said, glaring at the upperclassman.

.:o0O0o:.

Mikan may or may not get splashed with the potion, what animal do you think she may or may not be? What do you think of her being a little fox kit? Any suggestions to what Akiko's animal is?

Any other suggestions for scenes between characters?

Please let me know! I'd love to include/get inspiration from them! Suggestions are always welcome and they encourage me to continue!


	8. Chapter 8

Note: none of the students have turned fully into animals! We see Jinno eating a fly and I just want everyone to know that IT WAS NOT A STUDENT! Just so we're clear.

.:o0O0o:.

"Mister Andou," came a stern voice from behind the pair. Tsubasa cringed and turned to see Jinno wiping his face with a handkerchief before cleaning his glasses. "Do you realize what you've done?" He said, glaring at the upperclassman.

Tsubasa hung his head and Mikan could almost see his ears drooping. Wait- Ears? Drooping? Human ears don't droop... Tsubasa reached a hand up to scratch roughly at his head before realizing what he was doing. His hands slowly rose to either side of his head, gasping at what he felt and yanking them both down again, but Mikan had seen it, too. Her senpai had dog ears!

Was the potion still that potent? Mikan peaked over his shoulder to see Jinno as he glared angrily at the boy, his eyes almost seeming to... to... to bulge out of his head, but that was impossible, wasn't it? The teacher tried to lick his lips, they seemed to be getting a little dry, and he frowned in annoyance at the fly buzzing right in front of him. Suddenly, as his tongue darted out of his mouth, it seemed too long and then there was something buzzing in his mouth. He instinctively blinked and swallowed it and realized that it wasn't actually that bad, a little salty- like a peanut... As he came back to himself, he saw the disgusted faces of his students.

"Did you just..." Stuttered Tsubasa. "Did you just eat a fly?" He asked, screwing up his face in disgust.

"What exactly happened?" Asked Jinno quietly, and, to the students, that was even more scary then when he was being stern. Jinno looked at Tsubasa, who looked at Misaki for help, who looked at Mikan, who looked at Sumire, who looked back at Mikan. Mikan sighed.

"Well," she started. "As far as I understand it, early this morning Sumire bumped into-" Sumire elbowed Mikan harshly in the side. "I mean, someone bumped into Nonoko and Anna as they were baking and working with chemicals side by side and their ingredients and experimental potions got all mixed up, creating this new potion, which splashed on everyone who was in the room at the time. Natsume turned into a cat-boy and Sumire tried to pet him, but he started to chase her, and she ended up running to my room. Everyone seemed to change in different stages, depending on how close to ground zero they were. See?" She said, pointing to the center of the room.

"Anna and Nonoko are shrunk almost down to the size of their respective animals, and I'm willing to bet that they have lost the ability of human speech while Tsubasa, on the other hand, only slid through the potion when it was a couple of hours old, so he seems to only have the ears. Everyone in the room seems to have very distinctive physical features and animal behaviors except... Except Sumire," Mikan said, turning to her friend. "Sumire?" She asked. "Why is it that you are the only one without animal traits?" She asked.

Sumire blushed and looked down.


	9. Chapter 9

Thank you all so much for your lovely reviews! I know, I know, Natsume hasn't really shown up yet, and that's probably not going to turn up this chapter either, but the fact is, I don't really know when he's going to pop in... if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to leave a review and tell me ^_^

Last time:

_"Everyone in the room seems to have very distinctive physical features and animal behaviors except... Except Sumire," Mikan said, turning to her friend. "Sumire?" She asked. "Why is it that you are the only one without animal traits?" She asked._

_Sumire blushed and looked down._

-0-

"Well," started Sumire. "I did have animal traits..." She said, looking nervously at Jinno and Mikan as she spoke.

"Well, what happened to them?" Asked Jinno excitedly. "How did you get rid of the effects of the potion?" He asked. Sumire looked down again, looking even more nervous than before. She mumbled something into her shirt and Jinno leaned forward to try and hear. "What was that?" He asked.

"I didn't." Sumire said.

"You didn't what?" Said Jinno, a frown starting to appear on his face once more.

"I didn't get rid of the effects of the potion..." She said, and Jinno's frown deepened.

"Then why don't you have animal features?" Asked Mikan, sensing an impending electrical storm in the shape of her teacher. Mikan put down Akiko, keeping her own body between the little girl and the angry Jinno.

"It has to do with my alice," started Sumire, and Mikan nodded. "I have a cat-dog alice and so I can call forth features of those two animals, like the nose of a dog or the eyes of a cat," she said, showing each example on her face in turn before returning to normal. "When animal features manifested because of the potion, I simply willed them away as if it was simply a part of my Alice..." The rest of the group nodded, some giving 'ohh's of understanding.

"What was your animal?" Asked Mikan. "And are you still being effected by the potion? I mean- can you still call those traits forth?"

"I don't know, it was- oh, how about I just try and show you," asked Sumire, and they all nodded and stepped back, Koko the parrot boy hopping onto a nearby table. Sumire screwed up her face in concentration and everyone gasped in amazement as, before their eyes, Sumire started to get smaller and smaller, her clothes growing loose around her and her arms and legs bending at odd angels before she finally disappeared out of sight into the depths of the pile of her clothing.

"Sumire?" Mikan asked worriedly. "Are you okay?" From inside the pile of cloth came a small chirping sound, and as Mikan lifted a shirt away, a small feathery head poked out. "Oh!" Gasped Mikan. "You're a parakeet!" She exclaimed. True enough, Sumire had fully transformed into a small green parakeet with a red beak. Suddenly, Mikan started laughing, causing the little bird to start chittering at her angrily.

"Perhaps you shouldn't laugh at her while she has such a sharp beak..." Suggested Tsubasa, causing Sumire to get a little gleam in her eyes.

"Tsubasa!" Mikan cried.

"What?" Said Tsubasa. "What did I do wrong?" He asked.

"You're giving her ideas!" Mikan exclaimed, backing away slightly from the angry bird. "I wasn't laughing at you, Sumire, I swear!" Mikan said, her hands held out in front of her. Sumire cocked her head to the side, clearly asking what Mikan had found so funny. "It's just... You're a bird..." Started Mikan, and Sumire hopped forward twice, chittering threateningly, which caused Mikan to stumble back a few steps. "Well, it's no wonder Natsume was chasing you!"

The rest of the group obviously didn't understand it, since they didn't know what had happened that morning, but Koko had obviously managed to read about in someone's mind, since he burst out laughing.

"Oh, God!" He gasped out, still laughing and clutching his belly. "It's like Selvestor chasing Tweetie Bird!" This prompted a new round of laughter from Mikan, and Sumire didn't look quite so angry anymore. After the laughter had died down, Koko turned to Mikan, still smiling with tears of laughter in his eyes. "Sumire wants your help getting somewhere she can change back in privacy." He said, nodding subtly to the pile of clothing that was still on the floor.

"Oh, yes, I'll go do that." Mikan said, picking up the clothing. She had picked up Sumire, placed the bird on her shoulder, and taken a few steps towards the door when there was a high keening sound.

"Mama!" Akiko wailed, tears streaming down her face. Mikan stopped and turned around. "Mama mama! Don't leave me, mama!" The little girl cried. Mikan's mothering instinct kicked in and she rushed to the little girl, hitting her knees hard and sliding towards the little girl before enveloping her in her arms.

"Whats wrong, honey?" Mikan asked gently, petting the girls hair.

"Mama, don't leave me!" Akiko sobbed. Mikan frowned as she felt something protruding from the girls head and she shifted back to get a better look. "Mama!" Gasped Akiko, worried that Mikan was going to leave her. Mikan was watching her head and she could see the little ears on Akiko's head twitch every time she sniffled.

"Akiko," Mikan said gently. "I'm not going to leave you, but let me get a good look at you to make sure you're alright." She said, holding Akiko slightly farther away.

Poking out of Akiko's long red hair were two little twitching fox ears which would twitch and move with the slight sounds all around them. Akiko's dark brown eyes had lightened and her pupil as now slitted like a cats. As Mikan turned the girl around, she could see a large, long lump in the back of her shirt. Mikan sighed.

"I'm going to have to pull your tail out of your shirt, is that okay?" Mikan asked. Akiko nodded and Mikan lifted up the shirt and untucked a beautiful red tail with black fur at the very tip. As she pulled the little girls clothing back into place and turned her around, Mikan noticed that Akiko's entire shirt was soaked with the potion, and now Mikan's hands were too. "Akiko, did you fall in a puddle?" Mikan asked gently, and the little girl nodded. "Well, how about you go to the restroom with me and Sumire to wash up, huh? How does that sound?"

"Okay, mommy." Said Akiko cutely, using one hand to latch onto Mikan's and the other in her mouth to suck on.

The rest of the group watched in amusement as 'Mama-Mikan' left the room with her friend on one shoulder and her new kit by her side.

.:o0O0o:.

What do you guys think?

How should we introduce Natsume?


	10. Chapter 10

As Mikan walked down the hall, Sumire the bird on her shoulder, one hand occupied with Sumire's clothing, and the other holding Akiko's hand as she sucked her thumb quietly, she thought about how much chaos this had caused. The classroom was in shambles, and she didn't know of any other students with cooking or chemistry alices, so how were they going to change back? And how was anyone going to clean up the mess? While it looked like the potion lost its effectiveness over time, it was still potent enough to change Akiko so that she had ears an a tail and behaved like a little fox kit with Mikan as her adopted vixen. And why hadn't Mikan changed? Akiko was still covered in the stuff and Mikan could feel it wetly between their joined hands.

Did it have to do with her alice? Since the potion had been created by a combination of Nonoko's chemistry/potion alice and Anna's cooking alice, and Mikan tended to render all alice's void, especially when they were used against her, no matter how unintentional it may have been.

Suddenly, there was a noise from farther down the hallway and Mikan glanced up to see a darkened figure as it slowly dripped water on the floor.

"Did you come in here to get away from the storm?" Asked Mikan gently. The figure didn't verbally respond and Mikan shuffled forward to get a closer look. "Hello?" She asked, and the figure looked up. "Oh! Youichi, it's you!" She exclaimed, reaching forward to pull him farther into the light of the hallway. Youichi didn't speak, instead turning his attention to the little girl huddled into the older girls side. He reached a hand up silently and tweaked Akiko's ear, frowning and rubbing his fingers together as they came away wet.

Mikan's eyes widened in horror.

"No!" She said, reaching forward toward the boy. "Don't! Youichi, wipe that off!" But it was too late and before she could reach him, he had already started to change. He grew slightly smaller, his hands bending and growing claws as his back hunched into a more curled position and his ears moved up his head, positioning themselves higher as they changed shape and grew fur. Mikan was still reaching for him, having dropped the bundle of Sumire's clothing as well as Akiko's hand. Youichi, seeing the hand, clambered up Mikan's arm and latched himself onto the side of her torso, showing similar characteristics to a Koala clinging to a tree.

"Not again!" Said Mikan, sighing and looking down at Youichi. He was a heavy weight at her side, but that was to be expected by a thirteen-year-old, and Mikan had a feeling that he wasn't going to be letting go, especially with the way he was rubbing his chest against her arm.

Mikan picked up the fallen bundle of clothing and continued on, hoping that there wouldn't be any more surprises on the way to the restroom.

But Murphy's law, being what it is, couldn't let that happen.

.:o0O0o:.

Koalas will rub trees and such with their chest to scent mark, apparently it stimulates scent glands in their chest...

I'm trying to stay somewhat true to some of he animal instincts and they can also give a lot of inspiration! I hope you like it, I know it's on the short side, but I thought I'd put it out there.

Any suggestions for future interactions/incidents/scenes? And I'm still sick, so any updates I give will probably be somewhat short for the time being.


	11. Chapter 11

Mikan sighed as she waited outside the restroom. She had set Sumire's clothing on the floor in one of the stalls, let the little bird into the stall, and then left the room, hoping to give her friend some privacy. Now she was sitting next to the door to the restroom, playing with her two new charges. They were both so adorable, with Akiko's red hair that matched her fox tail and ears, except for the little tuft of black on the tips of all three appendages. And Youichi, with his round furry ears and they way he kept clinging to things... Like her side... Well, he was adorable, so Mikan thought she could deal with it for now.

She looked up quickly as she thought she heard something fall over in an adjacent hallway, but went back to playing with the two children when nothing else happened.

If she had kept looking, she might have seen dull red eyes glinting at her from the darkness.

-0-

Natsume grumbled lowly as he trudged inside, still slightly damp. He had been caught outside when it had started to rain and had been forced to seek shelter under his beloved Sakura tree, which, sadly, did not provide much protection from the downpour. Once the weather had cleared up, he had made his way to the closest building. The lights weren't on inside, since the doorway to the side hall wasn't used very much and the electricity shouldn't be wasted.

Natsume sniffed lightly, taking a deep breath as he planned his next move. Just as he was about to lay down and lick himself dry, then maybe take a nap, his nose caught an interesting scent in the air.

It smelled like... Citrus? But it had an underlying scent of warmth and fertility and... Children? He had to investigate, after all, you all know what they say about cats and their way with curiosity. And he was a Tom Cat! Girls were always on his mind! Especially when they smelled so... Delicious. As he rounded the corner, he saw the curled up figure of a woman and two kittens.

Or were they?

As he looked closer, he saw that the woman had slightly curling, long auburn hair and was wearing what looked like pajamas, but she was wet, probably got caught in the weather as well, he thought, and the water made the thin sleep shirt cling to her body appealingly.

One of the children she was playing with, the little girl, had long red hair, but there were ears poking out of it! And a long fluffy tail poking out of her skirt!

A fox kit? Was this little fox kit the daughter of the woman who smelled like citrus? There was one other, and Natsume felt the little boy, who looked like he ought to be in middle school or so, should be familiar to Natsume as he clung to the side of the woman, but he didn't know.

He crept closer and hissed out a curse as he knocked over a broom that had been propped up against the wall. The woman looked up, and he crouched back into the shadows, watching her. After a few moments of nothing happening, she quickly went back to what she had been doing, grinning and playing with the children, comforting them, holding them, and smiling. She would make a good mother, thought Natsume, as his tail unconsciously twitched behind him.

Before he knew it, his body had responded to his subconscious desires and he had crouched down, his bottom and tail high in the air and his head low to the ground, eyes locked on his target as he readied to pounce. He kneaded his claws into the ground and his eyes followed the woman's every move. She made a sudden movement and he pounced.

There was a thump, then a small shriek of surprise, and suddenly Natsume was sitting in the middle of the hall, his tail waving lazily in contentment as he held his prize, purring lightly as he rubbed his cheek against it. He had launched himself towards the small group and grabbed the woman with a feline dexterity, pulling her with him as he landed several feet away before he curled up, sitting with his legs crossed and the woman cradled in his lap, his chest pressing against her back and his arms around her.

"Mine... Mmmmmm... Citrus... Yum..." He purred as he rubbed his scent all over her, a purr rumbling through his throat as he smelled his own wood smoke scent meld with the delicious citrus. He continued, enjoying how she shivered slightly when he ran his hands and face over certain spots, but he frowned as he smelled something on her side. He sniffed it lightly, recoiling slightly at the slightly bitter odor, and then turned his crimson gaze to pierce the younger boy as he sat with the small fox kit, both of them staring at the older pair. "Mine." He grumbled lowly, clutching his prize closer to his chest, not caring that she was making protesting noises.

Mikan was very confused. Not one minuet ago, she had been playing with the two children, entertaining and comforting them as they waited for Sumire, then suddenly there was a force yanking her away from them and she was cocooned in warmth. She looked around in confusion, but all she could see was a black t-shirt and a sweatshirt of the person holding her, still slightly damp from the weather outside. She felt her captors head shift and rub against her shoulder, then her neck, then her cheek, and a purring in her ear.

"Mine... Mmmmm... Citrus... Yum..." Came a deep, rumbling voice from beside her, the words rumbling through the mans chest and into hers, making her- for some reason she could not fathom, to feel safe and comforted. The man seemed to almost wiggle and his hands rubbed over her, leaving goosebumps in their wake, before he paused and bent his head down to sniff at her side before looking towards Youichi and growling out "Mine" in a low voice.

Mikan gasped as she caught sight of the cuff ear ring that she knew so well. Natsume? Could it really be Natsume? Hadn't he been in the dorms chasing Sumire? Mikan was very confused, especially since Natsume was now rubbing his hands and face against her side. What was going on?

_AND NOW! WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM FOR A SPECIAL NEWS BULLETIN FROM HOTARU IMAI!_

"Yes, Mikan is very confused, isn't she? The baka." said a chibi Hotaru, no longer a penguin, as she popped up in front of the fourth wall, unseen by the other characters. "In male Koalas, scent marking is usually done to attract the female Koalas. For other animal it is a combination of attracting females, territorial identification, and communication, while for male Koalas it is only part of an attempt to mate with any female koala."

"Scent marking behavior within male koalas is relatively different as compared to many other animals. A male Koala marks its scent against different kinds of tree branches or usually at the bottom of the tree. However, scent marking of the male koalas is very unique. They rub their chest against the tree. This rubbing process triggers a particular sensation within the bodies of the male koalas. Such a sensation allows the koalas to secrete a fluid. It is this particular fluid, which the male koalas specifically use for the scent marking." Said the chibi, using a long pointer stick to illustrate what she was talking about, referring to a diagram of a koala from who knows where.

"As Youichi has been partially turned into a Koala, he is exhibiting some of these traits. When he was clinging to the Baka, he was rubbing his chest against her side enough for him to secrete the scent marking fluid, though it is unknown if his purpose was to attract females, mark territory, or claim Mikan. Natsume has discovered the scent marking and is trying to cover it with his own, and Mikan, like usual, has no idea what is going on." The small Hotaru chibi paused, looked at the scene in front of her, snapped a few pictures with her camera, and walked off-screen while muttering about how much money she would make off of them.

.:o0O0o:.

I'm almost over being sick, I think(fingers crossed)...

What did you think of my news bulletin? They do it all the time in the Manga and the Anime to explain things, so I thought I'd try it out. If you liked it, tell me and I might try it again. If you think it was a flop, tell me and I'll find another way to explain things like this.

And yes, I took this off a website word for word, it's from an article on "koalainfo" .com

Btw, just so everyone knows... This is set in spring... Mating Season... If you have any pairings you want to see, feel free to share and I'll see what I can do.


	12. Chapter 12

Sumire's day had been awful. Absolutely, positively, hiding-under-the-covers-and-pretending-it-never-ha ppened, awful. It had started out well enough at first. She had gone into the class room, intending to say hi to Natsume and tell him how nice he looked.

But then, as she was passing Nonoko and Anna, she tripped, sending potion ingredients and cooking supplies and the two other girls to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs, mixing ingredients, and broken glass, overturning the table in the process. The entire room had started to spin and she could dizzily make out the blurry images of her classmates standing over her, Nonoko, and Anna.

"Are you okay?" Came a voice from above. It was gentle and low, a mans voice, but it sounded distant. The blurry figure in front of her knelt down and reached forward. Sumire would have jerked away, but it seemed her reflexes weren't working properly. A gently hand brushed against her cheek, wiping away small shards of glass and the gooey wetness the potion and cooking ingredients had started to form.

The figure frowned and pulled away slightly, turning to someone beside him.

"Hotaru," he called out. "Can you analyze this substance?"

"It will cost you, Koko." Replied a low female voice from farther off. Hotaru, Sumire figured. So did that mean that it was Koko standing over her? Sumire heard a sigh and some rustling before she saw a limb reach out to Hotaru and heard the clinking of coins. Yes, she thought. Definitely Hotaru.

Sumire frowned as she wiggled slightly. Her clothes had gotten looser in the five minuets she had been on the floor- but how was that possible? Did the new mystery potion cause clothing to stretch? She frowned even more when she realized that Koko and the other blurred figures were growing larger. What was going on? She had been the one at ground zero when the potion exploded, so why were they the ones being affected-oh...

It wasn't them.

It was her...

She was shrinking.

Sumire opened her mouth to let out a wail, but all that came out was a strangled warble.

Oh...

Oh, no...

.:o0O0o:.

I'm sorry I havn't been updating recently... I've had homework, I've joined tech, and my business is finally up and running...

If you're interested in the things I make, you can find me at PrettyShinyWare on Etsy .com


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